Laura Dimon writes about Flint, and Flint fires back

Dimon, a New York journalist and daughter of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
/quotes/zigman/272085/delayed/quotes/nls/jpmJPM CEO Jamie Dimon, posted a story a few days ago about the southeastern Michigan city that’s seen better days. It describes, basically, a pinched chasm stricken by poverty and violence, the most mutilated of the carcasses left behind by the collapse of the U.S. auto industry. “This is America’s Most Apocalyptic, Violent City — And You’ve Probably Never Heard Of It,” blares the headline.

Everett Collection

Michael Moore in a “Roger & Me” scene.

“Flint now drowns in the hell that has become of much of America’s Rust Belt,” Dimon wrote, then asked Eminem via Twitter if he wouldn’t mind sharing the story.

Flint was not amused. The story exploded among local readers, who were miffed at descriptions of the city as apocalyptic and violent, and, paradoxically, miffed at the notion that no one’s ever heard of Flint. Its decline, after all, has been well-documented, including in native son Michael Moore’s 1989 documentary “Roger & Me.” People there were also irritated that Dimon didn’t visit the city before writing about it. And, oh yes, there were those who attacked her over her dad’s bank.

PolicyMic, the website where the story ran, shut down comments, so Flint defenders took to Dimon’s personal Twitter feed.

“Great things happen here & you missed them ALL,” wrote Lottie Ferguson, who grew up in Flint and now lives right outside the city limits.

www.lauradimon.com

Laura Dimon.

Ferguson, in an interview Monday, ticked off a list of Flint’s attributes: parks and beaches; festivals; a planetarium; the local Boys & Girls Club, where she is board president; and a municipal farmer’s market that’s “easily one of the best in the country.”

Ferguson, 35 and a stay-at-home mom who used to work in IT for the local school district, said the photos included with Dimon’s story were dated and didn’t give an accurate representation of the city. “Yeah, there is crazy stuff going on in Flint,” Ferguson said. “But there is so much good stuff going on here.”

Dimon, 26, didn’t immediately have a comment. But she answered most of the Twitter reaction with grace. She said she was considering a follow-up piece on “Flint Fights Back.” She expressed regret that she hadn’t visited.

“Hi there. I’m curious. Did you travel to Flint for your story?” asked Gabe Gutierrez, an NBC reporter in Atlanta.

“I wish I could have but I did not,” Dimon replied. “Next time I have the means, Flint … here I come!”

Gutierrez, who lived in Flint for three years working for the ABC station there, said Flint was “a much better place” than Dimon’s story reflected.

Jeff Rice, who co-founded the website Midwest Lint (“Mid-Michigan’s Source for Local T-shirts! Keeping Detroit and Flint POSITIVE!”) offered to send her a shirt. Monday, he thought he’d recommend one that says “Flint” in big letters, followed by “Haters Make Us Famous.”

“Maybe you can wear one of our T-shirts for your next essay to make it seem like you visited the city,” Rice wrote on Twitter. Dimon called them “awesome shirts.”

Rice, 31, said he gave Dimon credit for her quick response, and said he hoped she would visit to write about both the good and bad of the city. He was still scratching his head, though, over the idea that Flint is unknown.

“Flint always has all this negative press,” said Rice, who lives in a Detroit suburb. “We’ve been mentioned on ‘The Simpsons’ multiple times.”

To be sure, some readers praised the story, and one reader thanked Dimon for not forgetting about the plight of a relatively small town. Others offered to show her around if she visits.

Several, though, made the connection to J.P. Morgan, and were less than kind.

“Her dad’s bank [expletive] destroyed Detroit,” one reader wrote.

“Please separate the two of us,” the younger Dimon replied. “We’re not the same person.”

– Christina Rexrode

Christina Rexrode covers banking for MarketWatch in New York. Follow her on Twitter @chris_rexrode.

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